An Interesting Observation. Animal Reactions to Tobacco

[juvat270]

I have mentioned before that I am former cigarette smoker as well as tobacco chewer. I noticed back then that, whenever I would let my cat or dog sniff either my cigarettes or chew they would almost always rear their head back with their eyes squinted. They would then almost immediately turn around and run away from it. The pets belonging to a friend of mine would often do the same.
I never thought much about it till recently when my cat jumped onto my desk and began sniffing the open tin of Frog Morton I had sitting there. He almost seemed to enjoy it. I have since tried it with all my various blends, from aromatics to English. His reactions ran from being extremely "sniffy" to barely interested. My dog would take a sniff and always seemed to be uninterested. Neither of them had the hostile reactions to pipe tobacco that they did with the others. I repeated this experiment with a friend of mine who enjoys cigars. Neither his pets or mine rejected them based on smell.
This leads me to wonder if what they were smelling in cigarettes and chew were the chemicals they process in to those tobaccos. I know another forum member mentioned that she uses Borkum Riff to keep her cat out of a specific chair. So I also wonder if certain pipe tobaccos are heavily processed as well or if it really is just the flavoring Borkum Riff uses in their blend.
Anyway, I found this slightly interesting so I thought I would share. Hardly scientific I know as all animals are different, but interesting nonetheless. :puffpipe:

 

[vroomfondel]

Oooohhh, interesting thread. Just a few weeks ago I realized something similar. My dog Muffin usually isn't interested in any tobacco products I use. When she sniffs ciggies, english mixtures or VAs she seems unimpressed and loses interest extremely quickly.
Then I got some McClelland's blending Perique, the smell of which, when first opened, almost knocked me off my chair. She almost immediately came into my office from the living room and was really into smelling the open tin and licking her nose.
I now take extra care never to leave any of that tobacco lying around in the open, because I believe that if she had the chance, she'd start chomping away.

 

[bootlegbonvivant]

Interesting topic indeed. I'll start with my oldest dog, Abbie. My dad, who smoked coughin nails, would blow the smoke in her face and hold the burning cig up to her nose as a puppy. This had happened several times, even after trying to get him to stop to the point that Abbie reacted to anyone who smoked that brand of cigarettes with growling, curled lips, sneezing, and depending on her sense of personality, would snap at them. Anyone who smokes cigarettes of any brand will get some kind of negative reaction, but not as severe as those who smoke that particular brand.
Now, when I first started smoking cigars, she'd just sniff, curl her lips, sneeze at the room note and go into another room. With my pipes, Abbie will lay down at my feet and sleep. No growling, no sneezing as long as I don't get the burning tobacco too close to her nose. As for non-burning tobacco, she sniffs and shows little interest. In some ways I think she tolerates our smoking, but we also don't abuse her with the tobacco like she had been as a puppy.
As for the other four legged furry creatures in our household, the aromas to tobacco are hit and miss. Cyndi will smoke in the bed while reading a book and our oldest cat will be sleeping at the end of the bed. If it's a tobacco he doesn't like, he gets restless and wants out. If it's something he seems to tolerate or enjoy, he finds the best spot in the bed, or cuddles up close to pass out.
There's only been a couple of tins of tobacco that I've opened and put down for the animal children to take a sniff. Most times it's a couple of whiffs and then they walk away.

 

[lordofthepiperings]

The only pup that seems to react at all to my pipesmoking is the oldest. She's a 15yr old pitbull mix, we think some kind of shepard dog is the other part of the mix. If she's out lounging around while I'm smoking and it drifts her way she always sneezes until she eventually gets up and plops out on the front yard away from me.

 

[buster]

My dog is a rescue dog we got him from the doggie prison about 7 years ago. I was afraid of brooms, blond women with short hair, and any kind of smoker. So I figure some short hair blond smoker must have beat him with a broom? When I would smoke he would slink away to his bed or the far corner of the yard until I was done. It took a few years until he got over it. Now he sees me pack a pipe and grab my hat and he knows we are going on a walk!
I use to keep a cheap cigar in my fishing bag. I would break off a piece and rub it into my hands to cover the human scent. Some one told me fish like tobacco scents. I use to catch lots of Bass and Trout back then. Now I started taking my pipe with me on the boat and guess what? You got it my catch rate increased! My fishing buddy who smokes leafy greens can not figure out why I am out fishing him. :lol: Last time out he said, "WTF is your secret? Same lure, same rig, same line and you are out fishing me! You look all calm there with that freaking pipe in your mouth reeling in ANOTHER FISH!" :: I just said," I cant give away all my secrets"

 

[portascat]

Just remember that with dog and cat food manufactures, the challenge they face is to make a product that is as foul and disgusting as possible to appeal to the sensibilities of the pet, and yet only up to the line in the sand that the owner of said pet will not cross for the mistaken belief that the product is rancid or improperly made or packaged.

 

[olderthandirt]

The dog and 2 of the cats that share the house with us either don't care or avoid the cigarette and pipe smoke. The dog must be watched when a snus can is out or he will eat the stuff, an errant pipe is fair game as a chew toy.
And then there is my best buddy, George the CAT.

He drinks coffee with me in the morning, begs beer off of me if it's a stout.

When I've a tin of a particularly dark snuff out, especially one heavy with bergomot, George is right in there. Medicated snuff, not so much.
As for the pipe he seems to enjoy most all the blends.

A puff of smoke full on is too much, an understandable irritant. But he will stretch his neck to catch a whiff of the side stream on a regular basis. He almost seems to pause and consider what he has just taken in before either curling back up or going for another whiff.
George is also a help with spotting a pipe that really should have a thorough cleaning. I've caught him numerous times inspecting racked pipes with his nose.

Inevitably if there is one that needs more than a cursory cleaning he'll stop at it and do that panting thing that cats do when they strike on something really stanky.

 

[tpicking]

My cat jumps down from my lap every time he gets a whiff of smoke. He loves to watch the smoke rising, but as soon he smells it, he goes into another room.
My dog could care less and just lays there - she's the classic image of a Golden Retriever faithfully laying beside her Master while smokes his pipe.

 

[spyder71]

My dogs HATED my cigarettes! Soon as I quit them for the pipe they started sitting in my lap while I smoke. Before they would leave in a sneezing fit as soon as I lit a cig.

Heck, it had about the same affect on my wife too!

 

[yuri66]

Good topic, I still smoke cigarettes and my pipe and what I have noticed is that when I smoke a cig my cat comes up to me to want some attention but does not stay long as if he does not like teh smell on my hands or something, but when I just get back in from smoking my pipe he will jump on me and stay for hours on end. I think that there is a huge difference in the chemicals between pipe tobacco and cigarettes and that our animals with their refined sense of smell notice a lot more that we do.

 

[jchaplick]

Very interesting, i havea friend here at school that had a cat, the cat did not like the smell of his roommates cigarets, but would actively seek out my friends dip, the cat had actually opened several tins and eaten it, of course we had to take the damn thing to the vet, but it would stil eat it to this day, it was the weirdest thing ever

 

[PeriqueMyInterest]

Sir Compton Mackenzie claimed that cats were superior to dogs because they liked the smell of a pipe full of tobacco.

 

[romeowood]

My cats could care less what I'm smoking, for the most part. But on the flip side, I love curling up with them and smelling the aroma of the day's pipes on their fur. Little puffballs of tobacco goodness!